Sometimes, you need a bridge
where there is no river.
The ground falls away
& you need that pique experience —
looking down on everything
without ever having climbed,
sky & water wearing the calm
blue uniform of authority.
Held up by high-strung cables,
speeding through our lives,
we could all use a pause
to adjust our perspective,
get in touch with who
we really are & what
brings us here, dry-
mouthed or sweaty,
death as close
as a sudden, wild leap.
Really REALLY loved this one. So dark; so right.
love the opening two lines & “we could all use a pause to adjust our persective.” i love the cleverness of this. it’s amazing the things you write about and make beautiful and poetic.
Of all your municipal poems, this one most directly confronts our relationship with authority, I think. I like the high contrast the subject calls for: “calm blue,” “pause,” & “touch” vs. “high-strung” and “sudden, wild.” The contrast is more succinct in “dry-mouthed or sweaty” (though this wet/dry suggests a coming convergence), and most succinct in just the word “pique,” which is such a nice linchpin. Nicely done.
Thanks, y’all. It’s always gratifying to win the approval of people whose writing I respect, particularly in cases like this where I’m not sure if I succeeded in getting my meaning across.